Fire-resisting door or blind.



N0 MODEL.

PATENTED AUG. 9, 1904. H. E. VANGE. FIRE RESISTING DOOR 0R BLIND.

APPLICATION FILED No.18, 1903.

Hrrmfil Wine UNITED STATES Patented August 9, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN E. VANCE, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

FIRE-RESISTINGTDOOH on BLIND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,024, dated August 9, 1904. Application filed December 18, 1903. Serial N0. 185,721. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMAN E. VANCE, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Colurnbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Resisting Doors or Blinds; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide ire-resisting doors or blinds of the kind that have a metallic sheathing and a wooden or other combustible or gasgenerating core with covered vents, the covers being automatically detachable when the blind or door is subjected to abnormal heat, as from a nearby conflagration, thereby permitting the escape of gases, &c., generated by the heat within the sheathing.

The invention, broadly stated, consists, among other things, in the provision of covers for such vents secured over the vents with a fusible solder that will fuse or melt on adangerous rise of temperature, so that they will be disengaged or partially disengaged from the vents and permit the escape of gases from the interior of the door or shutter, and the boundaries of the invention are to be gathered from the claims at the end of the description.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a front or face view of a door embodying the same. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the upper portion of the door. Fi 3 is a similar view of a modified form.

Doors of the kind referred to, as before intimated, are usually constructed with a core, consisting of strips of wood 1 and 1, laid and secured crosswise on each other to prevent warping, and with an exterior sheathing 2 along both sides of the upper portion of the shutter or door,with a series of openings 3, and to cover such openings with metallic disks or covers 4: of sheet metal soldered with solder 5.

The solder 5 used can be compounded so as to fuse only at, say, a temperature of 250 Fahrenheit and upward,and therefore to promptly release the disks 4 in case of imminent lire.

It will be desirable that the temperature at which the solder shall fuse shall be such that only those on the side of the shutter or door exposed to the heat or fire shall fuse, so that the gases or smoke generated in the core of the shutter shall escape on such exposed side. Another factor, therefore, determining the compounding of the solder and the temperature at which it shall fuse will be the thickness of the core of the shutter, which of course can be varied. The provision of these vents prevents the accumulation of gas within the sheathing and the rupturing thereof and insures the escape of the gases on the side exposed to the lire, and because these gases are more or less inflammable the danger of the ignition of gases on the side not exposed to lire is reduced to a minimum. Small strips or pieces of asbestos or other foraminous and fire-resisting material 6 can be secured over the wooden core behind the vents to protect the wood and opposite disks from heat after the covers or disks on the exposed side become detached, and the conduction of heat through the wooden core can be retarded by the interposition of a layer 7 or seve a1 layers of paper or other heat-retardent between the plies of wood constituting the core, as seen in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 3 I. have illustrated how the disks or covers can be countersunk in the face of the door or shutter, so that the disks can be flush with (or below, if desired) the face of the door or shutter, and therefore out of position to interfere with the sliding of the door or shutter if it is made of that character and to slideinto a casing having a narrow opening.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a lire-resisting door or shutter having a vent on each side of the door having a cover releasable by adangerous rise of temperature.

4. In a fire-resisting door or shutter having a metal sheathing and a core of other material, a vent and a cover for said vent held over said vent by solder fusible by a dangerous rise of temperature.

5. In a fire-resisting door or shutter having a metal sheathing and a core of other material, a series of vents along the upper portion of each 01 the sides of the door or shutter, and covers for said vents held thereover by solder fusible by a dangerous rise of temperature.

6. In a fire-resisting door or shutter having a metal sheathing and a core of other material, a vent in the sheathing for the escape of gas generated in the core having a cover releasable by an abnormal rise of temperature and pieces of fire-resisting material between the cover and the core.

7 In a fire-resisting door or shutter having a metal sheathing and a core of other material,

a vent in the sheathing for the escape of gas generated in the core and a piece of foraminous and fire-resisting material interposed between the vent and the core.

8. In afire-resisting door or shutter having a metal sheathing and a core of other material containing fire-retardent dividing it, and a vent in the sheathing having a cover releasable by an abnormal rise of temperature.

9. In a fire-resisting door or shutter having a metal sheathing anda core of other material containing a dividing fireretardent, and a vent on each of the opposite sides of the door having a cover releasable by an abnormal rise of temperature.

In testimonyvvhereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HERMAN E. VANCE.

WVitnesses:

TALTER HAMILTON, GEORGE M. FINCKEL. 

